Bell tolls for Art Bell's six-week journey at satellite radio

Nov. 7, 2013

Updated 4:08 p.m.

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Art Bell is shown in his home studio in Pahrump, Nev. Bell's "Dark Matter" show on SiriusXM abruptly went off the air after six weeks. ART BELL, SIRIUSXM

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KFI's John Kobylt, left, and Ken Chiampou are shown doing a live broadcast from Orange County last year. The National Hispanic Media Coalition, which earlier advocated a boycott of the pair's show, has filed a petition with the FCC, asking the commission not to renew KFI's broadcast license. H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dodger radio announcer Charley Steiner is being inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN, GETTY IMAGES

Some thought Art Bell was a loon sitting out in the middle of nowhere (Pahrump, Nevada) broadcasting from a double-wide trailer, with a huge antenna on his property, talking about UFOs, flying saucers, ghosts and the paranormal. Some described his “Coast to Coast” all-night show as a cross between “Twin Peaks” and “The X-Files.” He laughed all the way to the bank as Premiere Radio Networks contracted with hundreds of radio stations around the country and thrust Bell into the stratosphere as one of the most successful talk show hosts.

He’s had numerous stops and starts in his rocky radio career, the latest being giving up his six-week-old show on Sirius/XM Radio Satellite Radio this week. “We are sorry that ‘Dark Matter’ on SiriusXM has come to an abrupt end,” said the terse message on Bell’s website.

“We'll examine our options and may be able to return in a different format and medium. In the meantime, ArtBell.com will still operate as long as financially possible, hoping for a workable solution to bring Art back to you, soon.”

Bell was experiencing frustration with Sirius/XM over technical issues. “It's a systemic problem,” wrote Art at his website. “For a caller-driven show like this one, speaking only to people on cell phones in moving vehicles is somewhat difficult.” This restriction in listeners also played havoc for Art, severely reducing his callers.

Bell also complained about piracy. His show was being heard all over the Internet, YouTube and even on a server in England.

KFI CHALLENGED

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) has filed a 351-page petition to deny the renewal of the broadcast license of Clear Channel’s KFI AM 640. The petition was filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, D.C.

NHMC’s petition contends that KFI and Clear Channel have demonstrated a pattern of abuse, using their broadcast license to air repeated instances of hate speech that target the many diverse communities of Los Angeles. NHMC further alleges that this pattern of abuse fails to serve the public interest and that evidence exists to suggest that KFI has engaged in news distortion.

The action refers to the group’s campaign for the removal of KFI’s “The John and Ken Show.” According to their press release: “The campaign, which was supported by over 40 local and national organizations, resulted in over twenty advertisers pulling support from the show, including AT&T Wireless, Verizon, Vons and Ralphs.”

KFI did not respond to requests to comment on the petition.

RADIO HALL OF FAME

Four members of the Southern California radio community are being inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame this weekend in Chicago.

• Blair Garner, syndicated host of the country radio show “After MidNite,” which aired locally for a number of years on KZLA when the outlet featured a country format.

• Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo came to the attention of a broad bilingual community when he was given much credit for a rally that encouraged some 500,000 immigrants to march and become citizens. He recently started doing mornings on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio after a long run at KSCA (101.9 FM).

• Charley Steiner is one of the announcers with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Before the Dodger job, Steiner broadcast three years for the New York Yankees. Steiner previously spent 14 years at ESPN, where he anchored SportsCenter and did Major League Baseball play-by-play on both ESPN radio and television.

• Steve Dahl had his biggest success in Chicago radio with Garry Meier. Steve started his career in Southern California radio at KPPC in the early ’70s before moving to Chicago to work at WLUP-FM. Local pundits credit Steve and Garry with introducing a new era of radio in the Windy City.

TRAGEDY IN THE AIR

The story of a man who jumped to his death from a helicopter off Newport Beach this week has a connection to Southern California radio. The helicopter pilot was Corbin Street, son of longtime KIIS-FM helicopter reporter Commander Chuck Street.

“My son was up between 800 and 1,000 feet and his passenger, Greg McFadden, kept asking him to fly higher and higher,” said Chuck. All of a sudden McFadden took off his seat belt and started opening the door. Corbin grabbed for him but out McFadden went.

McFadden had booked the aerial tour with Anaheim Helicopters, which is owned by Chuck Street.

“One of the other pilots loaded McFadden into the helicopter and told Corbin that the guy seemed a bit eccentric, a little different, and didn’t seem to be in good health,” Street said. “Corbin was a little anxious about that, but once they got airborne the guy asked a lot of questions.”

Asked to reflect on the incident, Chuck Street said, “I flew for 35 years and 27,000 hours. Nothing close to this ever happened. My son is 25 and has about 500 hours, and then to have something like this happen in his young career, it's unbelievable.”

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